BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

TRIPS-PLUS AS A TOOL FOR ENFORCING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Author: Mohammad Atique Rahman

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSJ2014v35n4a4

ABSTRACT

An enormous proliferation of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) has been explicitly evident in recent years especially due to a reaction to the slow and disruptive process of trade negotiations in the multilateral forum i.e., the World Trade Organization (WTO). These FTAs now adopt Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-Plus provisions that include new areas of Intellectual Property (IP) rights protection and implementation of more extensive levels of IP standards beyond WTO TRIPS’s requirements, particularly in terms of elimination of options and flexibilities available under the WTO TRIPS. TRIPS-Plus provisions are conceived as stringent IP provisions aiming to harmonise global IP standards and enforce IP rights. Given the disparities and lack of progress regarding the implementation of IP protection, developed and industrial countries have pursued for stronger IP protections through entering into bilateral FTAs with the developing countries. In exchange of stronger IP protections, developed nations bilaterally offer greater market access for developing ones while the FTAs demand extensive adoption, amendment and invocation of intellectual property rights laws, institutions and enforcement mechanism. In this context, this paper attempts to analyse factors behind the adoption of TRIPS-Plus agreements and their impact on developing countries. The central research questions of this paper are: why does world community need TRIPS-Plus agreement? Does TRIPS-Plus agreement help to enforce Intellectual Property rights? Obviously opportunities like greater market access are lucrative from the developing country perspective; however, implementation of TRIPS-Plus provisions is squeezing TRIPS flexibilities available for them. Therefore, developing countries should adopt cautious measures during the negotiation phase with developed nations in order to continue to enjoy WTO TRIPS flexibilities particularly in the fields of pharmaceuticals and agriculture.